More from the foot-shooting beat
This is nuts! The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is seeking feedback on new guidelines for advertising in and adjacent to online streaming video (among other things).
They recommend, get ready, 15 & 30 second spots before and during streams with fast forward disabled.
Anybody who adopts these as guidelines for video stream advertising will have a tough time meeting their goals, because users will simply vote with their clicks NOT to watch. It’s hard to get a decent CPM (cost per thousand) when you don’t have the M.
Repeat after me: the internet is not TV, the internet is not TV, the internet is not TV, the internet is not TV.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 18th, 2005 at 12:07 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
May 19th, 2005 at 3:09 am
I suppose watching nothing at all is always an option. Not all content is infinitely replicable or interchangeable - and if people don’t want to pay and don’t want to watch the ads, and if there’s no legal alternative channel, then it’s time to go out and run around the block - because silence and blank screens just might not keep their attention. Perhaps it’s good news after all.
May 19th, 2005 at 8:44 am
Andrew, it isn’t all or nothing. There’s another alternative — finding add standards that end users don’t reject as intrusive.
As noted in previous entries, Microsoft’s own research shows that people won’t turn away or stop the stream, if the length is 7-10 seconds. The ad industry isn’t satisfied with that. My point is that this is what’s killing TV — one third of prime time goes to commercial and promotional announcements — and there’s no reason whatsoever to expect that streaming users won’t have the same reaction online. In fact, it’s likely to be worse.
Have you ever tried to watch a series of 90-second online clips, each of which has a 30-second commercial attached up front? It is intolerable, yet it’s there. And now the IAB wants to standardize such crap.
Web producers need to set the standards for their content, not the advertising industry.
May 20th, 2005 at 2:28 am
The IAB won’t be standardizing anything. Advertisers are going direct to consumers with the assistance of the content producer. The traditional supply chain for advertising is dead (and therefore won’t be relying upon the IAB for guidance).